Companions
by Amiella
Summary: They may have their own goals from the start, over time they've grown attached to each other and they consider protecting each other as their priority. Collection of snippets around the Elgang. Various genres and pairings.
1. UST

**Summary: They may have their own goals from the start, over time they've grown attached to each other and they consider protecting each other as their priority. Collection of snippets around the Elgang.**  
**Characters/Pairings: Elsword, Aisha, (Elsword x Aisha)  
Prompt: Unresolved Sexual Tension  
Genre: Friendship, Romance, Hurt/Comfort  
**

* * *

_"They hurt you. You hurt them back. Or maybe it is the other way around. Whatever. But someday you might find a way to forgive each other."  
_

_- Brian K. Vaughan_

* * *

_The first time she landed her sight on him, he was a brat. No, a 'brat' wouldn't simply cut it. He was an arrogant, stupid, jerk, and hot-headed midget. He would brag about how strong he was, claimed that he was one of the finest knight of the village, when she could easily tell that he would have a hard time beating even a small fry like ent or phoru, where she could literally fry them with a flick of her finger. Not to mention how often he touched the topic that she wasn't really fond of; her breasts and height growth, to name two. Of course, she would give him his just dessert for that. Most of the time, his red hair would turn redder from the magical fire that she shot at him._

_He was merely all-talk, she wasn't really impressed by him. At that time._

_Kicking that fact aside, however, there were a lot of times when she approved that he acted like a true gentleman. To be more exact, precisely after Raven joined their 'gang'._

_After he had met the older man, the time he spent on bickering with her was fading. Instead of returning her favor with one of his own, the young swordsman just gave her either an one-liner, or he ignored her altogether. At first, this bothered her a bit since in her eyes, she merely saw that as a façade to try to look cool, which he wasn't. But gradually, she was proved wrong. He was more focused in the way of the sword, taught by Raven. Slowly, he grew._

_And before she knew it, he had matured into a fine young man._

_While occasionally he still joked around, the once-dorky little brat was no more. His physique grew tall (even taller than herself, much to her dismay). His way of speaking changed, much like his best friend Chung, who often regarded everyone else with politeness. His happy-go-round attitude was still there by a little, but it was overshadowed by how stern he had become. His once-naïve eyes were now reflecting his entire determination. Everyone could tell it easily that he had viewed the world differently._

_Yet, his genuine smile was still intact. It was rare, but when the group joked around, sometimes when the topic was too lighthearted or it fitted his humor taste, he would chuckle, laugh, and smile. And she had to admit, his smile now was different. It was not like two years ago, where she would label it as a childish smile. It was an intoxicating and charming smile._

_Which worked effectively against her. She would try to hide it, but she would blush every time he smiled. His change was so drastic, and she loved it. Both his change and the young man himself._

_Then again, he was not the only one who changed. Raven, although he was the one who probably influenced him the most, had his own eyes opened in return. Thanks to the boy as well, Raven had decided to walk his life as a human again, he disabled his Nasod arm merely by his willpower and to fight, he pursued the way of the sword as well. Rena, who was once she would address as a big sister, was now maturing even further. Instead of a big sister figure, she now could see a motherly figure inside the elf every time the archer acted. Chung and Eve, who were once lost of the sight of their future, had already walked the path that they once afraid to take. Chung who was once a scaredy cat, was now walking the Elrios as one of the infamous assassin that protected his hometown. Eve, just like the former, went to dedicate her life for the sake of her own kingdom. So did the 'new girl' Ara.  
_

_If they were asked 'why', they would definitely answer with his name. It was all thanks to him. No doubt about it._

_And herself? She was no exception. Once, there was a demon offering its service to her for power. The offer was great, and she once had a doubt whether to take the offer or not. Everyone had promised that they wouldn't think of her any less as well. But again, just like the rest of the gang, she fell victim to his determination. Change for the better. If he could do it… If everyone could do it… Then why couldn't she? Promptly, she refused the demon's offer, and she decided to relearn her magic the old fashioned way. She studied slowly and steady, and she was now called as the master of elements around the world._

_She had changed for the better._

_But now, the only thing she wanted to was to change to someone who could talk to him normally. Not that she could admit it openly, because of many reasons._

* * *

_To him, she was a total annoyance. Or at least at the first time when they met._

_He was not exaggerating it. She was noisy as crap, sticking her nose where she shouldn't be. She often nagged him about the least important thing. She often lectured him with long, unrelated, and unnecessary sermon just because he did things differently than her. Hell, when he thought his sister was the queen of motherhen, there was this girl who was worse than her._

_Everything that he did was wrong and she was the correct one, according to the twerp herself. Of course, he begged to differ. He would point out how wrong her way of thinking was, and she would reply with logical answers, which often resulted in her favor. He would then continue with beating the satisfaction out of her physically… Well, if Rena or Raven didn't intrude. Which they always did._

_Eventually, he decided to focus less on bickering with her and concentrate on his training. With Raven tutored him, his swordsmanship eventually took its new level. His fighting style was shaped into an entire different style like he used to be. Ignoring her was probably a lowly move at times, but he had no time to lose. He had to focus. He had to get stronger._

_Before he knew it, his personality also mirrored his fighting style: it changed. He was not one to brag about this, but his mindset had changed. Sure, he still tried his best to find Elesis, but for now, the purpose of his adventure had changed. It was not only for Elesis, it was not only for himself, it was not only for his friend. It was for the whole Elrios. And people soon admired him for that._

_Even though he knew this was for the best, something was still off. Everything that had to do with her was different._

_Maybe it was his fault or maybe it was hers, but their relationship was not the same anymore. The moment he had decided to sharpen his swordsmanship instead of studying magic and runes like she had offered, the distance between them was starting to show. He did feel bad for turning her offer down, but he had no intention to become like her. Because he couldn't be her, and he didn't want to be her. _

_He wanted to be someone else. He wanted to be himself. He wanted her to be herself. He was a swordsman. She was a magician. As simple as that._

_Even though they travelled together after that, their relationship was awkward at best. Whenever either of them tried to make any form of communication, the other would respond indifferently. They would use the same professional tone like they used against anyone else in particular. A clash of masks, they kept their true words inside their heart instead of voicing them. The tension remained like that forever, and neither did anything to mend that._

_The rest of the gang did notice, but nobody moved. Nobody helped. Because they trusted them to be mature enough to settle such irregular tension between them, even though it had became mildly ill and unhealthy._

_Of course, deep inside, he always wanted to apologize- No, say hi. Just to speak normally, or even bicker with her like they had used to. But the timing for such moment never existed. And even if it existed, she never acted and she always seemed to be hesitant to talk to him. Maybe even afraid of him. Or worse, tired of him._

_He could only give a dry smile to no one in general but himself behind all that. This was actually not the best thing for him, but if she was happy with it, who was he to disturb her choice? _

_After all, watching her smile to everyone else from afar was enough for him. It was more than enough._

* * *

"That's it for today. Any question?"

With no response coming from her students, Aisha closed her book tight and calmly removed the red-framed glasses from her eyes. "Alright, for tomorrow classes, I want you all to learn about Ice Storm. There should be books containing about how to do it in the library."

Watching the little kids discussing the topic quickly in response to her statement was an entertainment of its own to her, and she made a faint smile at the sight. It was hard to believe even for Aisha herself that she grew fond of watching little kids, when the old Aisha would definitely growl in frustration instantly at the sight of them spouting a lot of things.

Maybe, just maybe, because she once knew a kid that was way more annoying than them, and she grew accustomed to it.

"Class dismissed, you may go now."

With that, the class, full of kids in their early ages, quickly moved out of the classroom to either their own home or play around with their friends for a little bit more, with some of them politely waving their hands at Aisha, which she returned gladly. Soon, the marches of little kids were done and the young magician was left by herself. And when the room was as silent as a grave, she let out a sigh.

It had been a while since she parted with everyone else… Well, more like everyone parted with each other for the time being. Chung returned to Hamel to solve some things, as he had said, Eve stated that she was going to somewhere where she could reform the new Nasod kingdom, probably Altera, and Raven, just like Chung, went to Velder to resolve some things of his own, with Rena following him loyally. While Elsword… He returned to Ruben.

While Aisha herself went to her hometown, Sander. She quickly got an offer to teach those kids about magic for the time being, and since she had nothing to lose, she gladly accepted the offer. Sure, it was fun watching those kids, but…

…She missed her friends, badly.

Especially Elsword. She missed seeing his face. She missed listening to his voice. She missed watching him swinging his sword everywhere. She missed about everything of him. She missed him, so much.

Not that she would be able to vocal it out, considering how their relationship had turned out.

"Miss Aisha?"

A small voice brought Aisha out of her trance as she let out a small gasp of surprise at that. In surprise, she quickly averted her gaze at the voice. Before her was a woman who looked approximately ten years older than her. It was a fellow teacher of the academy (whose name she still couldn't remember, thanks to the amount of teachers by the company).

"A-Ah, I'm sorry for zoning out like that," she quickly apologized, unconsciously stuttered a bit at her words. "Can I help you?"

The woman smiled back in retrospect as she bowed her head a bit. "It's okay. It's just that there's a guest for you waiting by the lobby."

Aisha unconsciously made a small headtilt at that. A guest for her? Who? She was about to question that when she promptly realized something important: A proper lady did not make her guest wait, and Aisha was a proper lady. Put them together and that was her motto.

"Alright, I'll be there quickly."

Bowing her head at the other female, Aisha grabbed her tomes together by her arms and she made her way quickly through the hall of the academy. However, she made sure her steps were not rushing and elegant. After all, whoever this guest was, she would make sure that she presented herself in front of them perfectly.

"My apologize for making you wait, are you looking for-"

Her heart quickly skipped a beat. Her body suddenly felt heavy, and her mouth hung open in surprise, if not shock. Her eyes also turned wide and round at the sight of the person before her. It was someone that she was very familiar with, but also a figure that she least expected to be here.

"-me…?"

Her words slipped out of her gaping lips unconsciously as her eyes stopped and focused on the person's familiar flaming red hair. Before her was the young lord knight of her favorite group, Elsword Sieghart, who was crossing his arms calmly while leaning on the wall comfortably.

Just like Aisha, though. When Elsword sighted Aisha, he seemed to widen his eyes for a moment before he closed them promptly. His mouth also opened for a moment, but before any letters could make its way out of it, he quickly closed it as fast as how he closed his eyes. Aisha wouldn't say it, but she found it pretty odd, considering he _was_ the one who had decided to visit her. Still, he was able to hide his entire fiasco of showing clear expressions before anyone could get a full sight of them perfectly. He did a marvelous job in doing it, even.

"…Elsword… Why…?" she muttered, barely audible even for both of them. Aisha, however, soon realized how offensive that statement could be interpreted and she decided to cover it up. "I mean— How could you be here? Didn't you go to Ruben?"

Her question was direct, but he returned with no words. Only with stern gaze that had already read everything, about her. She didn't realize, but he could already see how much in denial and confusion that she had found him here.

That means, he had to get on the thing as quickly as well. As he let her stare at her in mixed expression, he quickly released his arm free from the crossing to straighten up.

"Aisha," he said softly. "Can we talk for a second?"

Even though he had ignored her question, she was not even remotely angry. If any, she was surprised-slash-happy that he called her with that tone. Furthermore, it was not an order that he had always… suggested her to do like in fights they were in. It was a request. A request that she simply couldn't refuse, for unknown reason. Maybe because she was not used to turn down requests, or maybe because it was because it was his', she didn't know.

And it was the first time she heard him use her name directly after some time.

"Sure thing."

Her answer seemed to make him satisfied, although she couldn't see him making any visible smile, or any positive expression. He swiftly rotated on his feet and walked out of the building, and she followed suit, still holding her books with her.

Outside, she kept her following him, yet she still kept an obvious distance with him even though their footsteps were beating into one. She was still unsure about all of this. First, Elsword was supposed to be in Ruben yet he was here and second, he suddenly asked her to follow him, to a spot where she definitely had zero idea of and third, he didn't talk to her any bit as he led her.

She couldn't say that she liked the idea very well, but she didn't protest any bit and followed him all the way without saying anything. Even she couldn't understand why herself.

After a short walk, they arrived by the side of the lake in the center of the town and the red haired knight made a quick stop, before he crouched down to sit by the spot. She blinked in question, but he turned his head at her to answer her gesture.

"Sit down?"

She got that, although she still didn't understand his intention fully. She obeyed that, however. Brushing the back part of her skirt for a bit, she sat down carefully next to him, with a reasonable distance.

This time, as she did that, she could see the change in his expression. Elsword smiled at her, even though she could clearly see it was a dry, if not a sad smile.

She couldn't poke fun or tease him like when they were two years prior, however. Instead, to show her respect for him, she purposely acted like she didn't see any of it, even if he wanted her to see it.

Still, if he had tried to converse with her like that, she couldn't not return it. She smiled warmly at him in return. "What is it, Elsword?"

Her smile seemed to be forced and on purpose and Elsword realized that as well, but the young man didn't question it as well and instead, he forced another small chuckle of his own.

"Sorry for surprising you out of sudden, Aisha."

It happened. It just happened. He laughed again, at her. Just like the old times.

Even though it was still different from the old Elsword's laughter, it was close enough. It had quickly reminded Aisha of his younger self, who loved to laughs for many reasons, sometimes uncontrollably. A wave of nostalgia quickly swept Aisha's mind as she stared at him.

He had matured, but he didn't change.

"I-It's okay," she quickly snapped out of her reverie. "But I wonder, didn't you say that you were going back to Ruben?"

He stared back idly at the female for a bit before he answered. "I did, but I didn't go there."

"Why?"

She tilted her head to the side a bit, showing her curiosity. Elsword merely countered with a tiny shrug. "After giving it some thought, I realized that there was nothing to do for me back in Ruben. So I hitched along to Velder with Raven and Rena."

Elsword didn't need to go on full detail about that, for she understood clearly: He was still looking for his sister, since the last and closest thing they got about information regarding Elesis Sieghart was that she last commanded the knights against demons in Velder.

After some consideration of things, Aisha decided to ask a related question. "And then you decided to go here instead because…?"

He blinked his eyes at her. Once, twice… Before he gave a small laugh.

"As always, you're always so blunt and direct."

Subconsciously, Aisha had blushed in response, whether it was because of anger or because of the sight of Elsword's faint smile. She fumed and quickly crossed her arms, her index finger tapped her forearm impatiently.

"Whatever, Elsword. Just tell me what you needed with me. I'll just let you know that I am busier than it looks," she quickly retorted back, hint of anger clear from her voice.

It was not in her intention, but unintentionally it obviously had hurt Elsword a bit, as seen from the change of his expression: his face turned apologetic, so apologetic that it was rather out of character for him.

"Right, that was not why I am here, indeed…" the redhead muttered to no one in particular but himself, although Aisha could still hear it. "I am here because of you, Aisha."

Before she could even make a proper reaction to that, he had already directed his face at her, his deep amber spheres pierced right through her violet one. She attempted an effort to voice something… anything in particular, but he beat her to it.

"I'm sorry."

It was short. No further detail or dramatized phrases. Yet, it hit the main point direct and hard, especially at Aisha… For that was the single sentence that she had always wanted to say to him. Of course, Aisha wanted to return his gesture with her own, but the moment she opened her mouth, there were no words coming out. She suddenly lost her strength to be vocal, just like she was supposed to be.

It was another moment of silence as Elsword stared at the long horizon while Aisha still tried to say anything. It took her a while to gather her composure to mutter something, but when she had managed to do so, he cut her off, continuing his sentence.

"I'm sorry for everything, I… " Elsword explained, his eyes gazed idly at the desert town. "I never wanted to ignore you for forever, Aisha. It's just that I thought that there was no point for me to continue those kinds of senseless arguments that we used to do so I decided to shrug it off, but before I knew it… I barely talked to you anymore."

Dummy. Elsword was a big dummy. That was what she was about to say, yet he beat her to it.

"It was never my intention to let our relationship went like that, really," he dryly laughed. "Hah, I gotta admit, it's rather odd at this point to just blurt it out like that but Aisha, I just wanted to let you know that… "

_Stop it. Please don't finish them._

She wasn't sure whether she could stop her tears from falling if he finished it.

"…I'm sorry, Aisha. I truly am."

He averted his gaze at her face, which she couldn't reply. She didn't want him to see her tears. Instead of meeting his eyes, she quickly put a hand over her mouth and clamped it while directing her face aside.

Bad. This was bad. She was acting utterly rude at him, even though she didn't want to. Her pride didn't allow her to act all friendly and prissy all of sudden. For once, she rebelled against it, but it was all for naught. She couldn't swallow what she had spit.

Yet, Elsword didn't seem to be offended, and for the icing on the cake, he offered her an apologetic smile.

"It's okay, Aisha. You don't have to forgive me, I just want you to know that," he added. "It is already past broken and it's already too late to fix that."

_No, stop. Don't say that. I forgive you, because half of them were my faults._

However, he didn't seem to be able to read her mind, although he already seemed to be satisfied enough with his words.

"Well, it's due time I excuse myself from your sight, then," he casually said that as he rose from his seat. "Take care of yourself, Aisha."

In the end, she still couldn't say anything. She could only watch as he turned on his feet to excuse himself. She raised her arm to reach him, but it was as if her hand was invisible to him. The boy didn't pay any attention at it. Everything was futile.

That was it. It was the end of their complex relationship. The useless and random fights the once had, the silent treatment on each other that they once had… It had ended abruptly.

Everything was over…

…

…No—! No, this couldn't end like this! This wouldn't end like this! She _wouldn't_ let it end like this!

"**ELSWORD!**"

Her words seemed to reach him this time. The young Sieghart promptly shifted his head to react at her.

Only to be welcomed by books to his face. Needless to ask, it was Aisha's.

"Oof—!"

Sure, it was not as hard as Chung's Destroyer or Eve's slaps, but Lady, it still hurts like hell. Instantly, he could feel himself stumbled on his butt again, with his poor nose suffered more than how it should. Rubbing his nose in pain, Elsword groaned.

"What the hell was that for—!?"

What welcomed his eyes was not a pretty sight, or at least not something that he preferred to see right now. A familiar petite figure standing tall in front of him, dressed in the white robe that she always wore. Only that she was crying. This kind of scenery, obviously, confused him up to eleven. Did he do something wrong?

"Stupid…" Aisha said between her sobs. "Elsword, you stupid! Big dummy!"

Now suddenly she belittled him again while proceeding to maul his head with her books repetitively. He could deal with the former but definitely not both. He groaned and yelled in protest, but she only continued to beat the crap out of him. Thank the Lady she was only using her books and not her magic.

"Idiot… Jerk…" she stopped her barrage at him at one point and pulled her arms back, her eyes still wet from tears. "It's… not fair, Elsword… It's not fair…! You kept rambling on and on about how sorry you are…"

He could only blink confusedly at her while she was busy keeping her composure intact.

"But what about me? What about my feelings!?" Aisha lashed out. "Do you think you're the only one hurt by all of that? I-It hurts me as well, stupid swordsman!"

Before he could even do anything, she had already dropped her books to the ground and she… threw herself at him, right into his arms. Elsword's eyes widened in surprise at the contact. Hell, he would've blush already if he could process all of her reaction in one go.

She still continued to hit him with her hand even though she was already in his arms, even though she was definitely not using any of her strength. "Stupid… Stupid... We could still mend them, you know…" she buried her face in his chest as her sobs faded. "And at least let me apologize before you kept your stupid ramble going."

He stared at the crying girl in his arms for a bit, before he let out a sigh and one of his hands to pat her lonely back, his head gazed upwards right at the sky. "Well then, let's hear it."

"I'm sorry."

Her punches on him stopped, and her hands snaked their way to circle around his muscular body. She knew that she was being so aggressive, unlike her usual calm demeanor, but she didn't care. This was the only thing that she had to do.

"I'm really, really sorry… Elsword…"

Elsword, on the other hand, reacted like a true gentleman. Instead of pulling back or doing something of sort, he returned the hug with one arm while his other arm stroked her purple hair gently. It was so silky and soft, he just realized that. Honestly, he was used to touch and ruffle her hair, but never once he touched them so affectionately.

They stayed like that for the longest time. It was probably only a minute in reality, but for them, it felt like two years… Two years of missing each other badly.

"Apology taken," he whispered at her ears, trying to sound as polite as possible. "So, friends?"

"Mmm… Friends."

Their action, however, proved to be something that was beyond the border of friendship. It was a hug and it was neither friendly nor platonic. It was a hug that could only be labeled as romantic. It was definitely something private that only two people in love would do.

And they didn't realize that they didn't have the 'private' privilege when they heard people around them were giggling at them. After the realization dawned on them, they quickly snapped out of it and awkwardly separated themselves from the hug when they did realize, their faces' colors matched Elsword's hair's.

"P-Pervert!" Aisha was the first to act after the awkward pause. "H-How dare you touch a lady inappropriately in public!"

That made Elsword frown in disagreement. "What!? You were the one who jumped at me first!"

"W-Well, you could be a little more gentleman and excuse your way out of that!"

"Pardon me, but I was about to leave when _you_ called my name!"

"That was because you didn't let me say anything from my part at all, Elstupid!"

"Well, how should I know that you wanted to-"

By that point, their arguments were already intense and obviously, borderline silly and ridiculous. So ridiculous and so… Nostalgic. Really, Aisha couldn't remember when was the last time she had headbutted Elsword, for real. Their faces were only inches from meeting each other, especially on the lips.

Yet, they didn't blush awkwardly like they had used to be. Instead, they laughed out of nowhere and they pulled their head apart from headbutting each other. That really reminded him of how close they used to be, and they had fixed it just with those silly bickers.

"Silly tomato-head," Aisha jabbed her friend's shoulder playfully, laughing.

"The same goes for you, grape-head."

It didn't take long for them to stop whatever they were doing, dropping whatever they were holding, and instead, they were finding a position right next to the tip of the town's bridge and sat there, side by side. They stayed still like that for a while, watching the sun gently set and the sky was painted red. It was yet another wordless bonding between them, yet there was certainly no cold shoulder like it used to be.

Aisha politely attached and clung her arm over his, her head rested on his muscular shoulder. Elsword quirked an eyebrow over her action.

"Tired, Miss Aisha?"

She could easily notice the teasing tone in the young knight's voice, and she only shrugged it off with a faint but satisfied smile.

"Tired of being alone, I suppose."

When she added a light giggle over her words, Elsword couldn't help but chuckle along with her. "Worry not, I'm not going anywhere anytime soon."

"You better be."

The red sky gradually darkened and without further words, apparently, brought the duo to their inescapable slumber. Amazingly, in exception to Elsword's head position which was now leaning against Aisha's, their positions didn't budge any bit. They cared for nothing else. They just slept like a log, without anything to interrupt them.

Except for the two familiar footsteps, even though that still didn't wake them up.

"Honestly, these two."

"Well, I guess it's a good thing that they made up."

"Considering it has been over a year, I can't say they made a decent job in doing so. Both of them."

"Don't say that, Raven~ They just could not being so expressive. You know how youngsters in love are~"

"…Whatever floats your boat, Rena."

Still, the two older figures couldn't help but made faint smiles as they watched Elsword and Aisha slept side by side. Everything was solved now.

* * *

**Some things that I just want to let you guys know is that each chapters are only _mildly_ connected to each other, and possibly there would be some chapters that won't have any relation and involvement to the previous chapters. As you can see as well, their job paths are already obvious (LK for Elboy and EM for Aisha), while the rest have some hints already in one of the paragraph. It's not that hard to guess, really.**

**That means you'll probably won't be seeing any RS, IS, DW, VP, or any other jobs that I didn't choose here. They're going to stay in their designated job paths for the rest of the snippet, even when the stories aren't connected to each other.**


	2. Parental Figure

**Prompt: Parental Figure**  
**Characters/Pairings: Raven, Rena, Elsword, Aisha, (Raven x Rena)**  
**Timeline: Shortly after Chapter 1**  
**Genre: Family, Romance, Friendship, a bit of Action**

* * *

_"Some people don't need parental commitment, they will still come out great, but for others, parents can be critical in providing moral and academic guidance."_

_Amy Chua_

* * *

The sounds of the clash of two metals echoed under the stormy sky of Circular Waterway. Not once, twice, but many times. The cycle continued on until the two figures with swords took their distances from each other.

One of them, the red-haired Elsword, wiped the bruise over his cheek for a bit before he rushed at his opponent again. "I'm not done yet!"

His opponent, Raven, on the other hand, didn't seem to be wounded more than the younger swordsman, as visible from his pure and clean white longcoat. As Elsword directed his sword slash on his torso, he promptly moved his long katana to block the incoming attack. Miraculously, even though his katana was against a huge sword (which could qualify as a zweihander even), he was able to hold his ground.

Elsword tried to strengthen himself and push his senior down, but somehow, Raven was not budging any bit. Elsword grunted in slight frustration, using his entire strengths still didn't give him any positive result. That of course made him to resort to alternate method. The Lord Knight quickly pulled his sword back and jumped back to gain a reasonable distance first, before launching his counterattack.

Or at least, that was his plan. Because Elsword was not able to do. Just before he was able to get a proper gap between him and his opponent, Raven had already rushed at him with a shoulder charge, which rendered Els' guard off. Finding his chance at that, Raven didn't stop his barrage of attacks. He simply continued with his slash with more slashes, giving Elsword little to no breather, especially considering his slashes were done in sonic speed.

But it was not enough to defeat him. Like always, Elsword found a way. Instead of trying to block them, he took Raven's hits fully. Yet, he didn't even flinch any bit. Raven was a little surprised at first, but he quickly took notice of it. Elsword was pushing himself by using such two edged move. He might be able to negate incoming pain for a short amount of time, but that simply made him more open for Raven.

With such thing in mind, Raven knew already that Elsword would go with a quick counter attack.

Which he did soon.

"Sonic Blade!"

Elsword quickly made a spin to unleash a shockwave around his standing spot. It was destructive enough to destroy even the ground around him.

Sadly, Raven had anticipated that. Elsword was hitting no one but the cruel air. The Blade Master had already jumped upward to bombard the younger knight with a Shockwave. And unlike Elsword's attack, Raven's hit his opponent straight.

While Elsword had already partway falling to his knee, as soon as Raven landed from his attack, he finished his touch by flashing and slashing through his path. It looked like a simple move, but as soon as he passed through Elsword's figure, hundreds of slashes quickly followed him to damage Elsword. With a pained cry, Elsword slowly fell with butt first to the ground. His power had already clearly depleted, but he still wanted to stand up and fight further. He was a knight, and a knight didn't fall until his sword was off from his hand.

His entire plan was put on hold when Raven's katana was just right before his face. He gulped in terror at the sight before him, especially considering Raven was staring at him like he was a frail, unprotected rabbit to his crow. Should he move even an inch, it was more than clear than his face would be finished in the wrong end of Raven's blade.

It was only after a moment of doing so that Raven pulled his blade back, before he brushed his shoulder from the practically-nonexistent dusts.

"That's it for today."

As Raven sheathed his katana, Elsword could only grunt and groan in frustration. "...I almost had you...!"

To his whine, Raven let out a short snicker, although he quickly covered it up with another straight face so that it wouldn't wound the already-wounded Elsword's pride. "Your responses on vertical attacks are still not decent, Els. Keep in mind that fights aren't merely consisting of brutal and unplanned attacks. Demons are cleverer than you are thinking."

Considering his torn situation, of course Elsword paid no heed to Raven's advice. He kept laying on his spot, whimpering and groaning like a little kid who had their candies stolen. Raven tried his best to hold back from gesturing a clear facepalm from the sight before him. Honestly, he thought Els had grown into a perfect and refined knight, yet some childish traits were still there inside him. Whether that would be good or bad.

Meanwhile, just not far enough from them were the two females of the group. Rena was still tending the boiling pot for their dinner, while Aisha was sitting on the side, paying full attention at the content of the book she was holding. Rena was preparing the plate for everyone when the corner of her eyes captured the previous event unfolded: Raven and Elsword had just finished their afternoon practice.

And resulted in yet another loss for Elsword, which was followed by him acting all childish. Typical.

Rena sighed as she paused her work, her eyes slowly moved to stare at the magician near her. "Aisha, would you please patch Elsword up?"

As soon as she heard her own name being called, Aisha quickly turned her attention at the caller, soon giving a displeased look as she comprehended Rena's request. "Why should I?"

Ouch, that was pretty rude of her. Still, it was not like Rena had never heard such response from Aisha. She was used to this. Hence instead of lashing out more order, Rena smiled, albeit it was a teasing one. "That surprised me. I thought after you two had slept together yesterday, you two would—"

Aisha quickly slammed her book close and she quickly stood up from her spot to protest, her face flustering red. "H-Hold it right there, Rena! Stop saying something that could lead to a misunderstanding! W-we were just sleeping next to each other," she gave a pause to emphasize her incoming words. "And **unconsciously**! We were tired!"

Honestly, it was fun poking fun at Aisha for she would always return her tease with such cute and adorable expressions, but Rena needed Aisha to get to Els quickly… Since knowing Raven, he probably- no, he _definitely_ didn't hold back even in his sparring. Lady knows what kind of injury he had inflicted on the young teen.

"Sleeping next to each other doesn't count as sleeping together?" Rena kept her smile, this time making it worse for Aisha by faking innocent. "Considering me and Raven needed to carry you two back to the inn and you two couldn't even be separated, I think you two had crossed the line of friendship—"

"No, it doesn't! It _definitely _doesn't count as sleeping together!"

If any, her face was getting redder as her protests intensified. She wanted to counter Rena's words further, but it was already obvious from the smile she was getting: Aisha was not winning this argument. There was no use in keeping this longer when she knew the result already, so she cut the stick short, grumbling in displeasure.

"Ugh, very well, I'll take care of him now!"

A victory for Rena. She gave an approving nod at the purple haired girl as she grabbed the first aid kit from the rucksack and approached the knight, who was idly laying on the ground. That was taken care of.

She returned to her cooking just for a short moment before her ears noticed the approaching footstep. The footsteps were silent but enigmatic, the one that she could easily recognize. It was definitely his.

"You should try to hold back a bit sometimes, Raven."

Rena kept stirring on the food inside the pot as she heard the light chuckle coming from the swordsman just beside her.

"He'll survive," Raven shifted his position a bit before he sat on the log that they used for dining chair. "It takes more than that to knock him out."

Just by that, Rena could tell easily how deep Raven trusted Elsword's strength. Truly, she might had stuck around with Elsword more than Raven, but it still amused her how much deeper the relationship between the two men was compared to hers to Elsword's.

"He could die young if you keep it up, you know."

"If there's anything around that could kill him that easily, I am really interested to see them," Raven added jokingly, putting his sheathed katana to his side. "Besides, if I held back, I was probably the one in his shoes right now. Elsword is strong, Rena."

She wouldn't argue with that. She knew very well how strong Elsword was. If it wasn't for him, the rest of the group would probably have already fallen from the amount of ordeals that they had to fight. Elsword had always pulled them to victory. He, if Rena might dramatize her words, was capable of raising a miracle from point zero. Such was a bless of him.

Subconsciously, Raven thought the same thing as her. He couldn't even count how many times Elsword had already saved him, mentally or physically. It was because of him as well that he could gather enough will to fully stop using his robotic arm and rely merely on his swordsmanship. Elsword was his savior, and that was still an understatement.

They owed so many things to him. Too much that it was already way past uncountable by now.

In unison, the two adults' attentions were undivided at the direction of the Elsword, who was having his wound tended by Aisha.

"Gee, you failed to beat him again," the magician teased as she rolled a bandage over Elsword's wrist. "Nice job, Els."

"Shut up," Elsword grunted, his tone full of resentment. "Bet you won't last even a minute against either me or Raven."

"Well, duh," she scoffed in return. "Raven's a true gentleman. He would never even try to hurt a beautiful lady like me."

Aisha's boast only made Elsword scoff. "I take it you mean '_short hag'_, right?"

And instantly, Aisha's staff met Elsword's head. Whether he was joking or not, there was still something that Aisha simply could not bear with. That being one of it. Elsword was not reciprocating to her action very wisely in return, certainly.

To hell with patching his wound… To hell with being calm at her… Everything was _**so**_ on.

As the redhead and purplenette tried to settle things by their unique way, Rena could not help but lightly giggled as she watched the whole things ensue. "It's been a while since they bickered like that, isn't it? I'm glad that they were able to make up. "

"It was way past late," Raven sighed. No, he was not being cynical. He was just being a realist. "They could have talked about it sooner than waiting for years."

"Better late than never, Raven."

Rena's glee answer was more than enough to silence the dark haired swordsman. He could give more arguments, but it was already crystal clear that even if he did that, Rena would counter with another optimistic answer. There was no winning against her when she was like that.

Besides, it was not like Raven could ever get into argument with her.

"What are you?" Raven joked. "Their mother?"

Well, now that he said that… Rena was basically their mother, wasn't she? Whether Elsword and Aisha would argue or giving each other their cold shoulder, the elf lady would always be between them. Rena would stay between them until their problems were resolved, by giving each of them the perfect solution to their troubles. Or if that didn't work, she would unleash a certain Rena-tier fury that would silence them for good.

Raven had to admit, though… She gradually became a lot loftier and sweeter. If he were talking to the two years prior Rena, 'sisterly' would be the perfect word to describe her. But now, she was like a walking saint. Sure, there were occasions where she would get stressed from her troubles, but generally, her personality was maturely soft and angelic. Her motherly instinct had surely been awakened.

So yeah, calling her as their mother was definitely not wrong.

Rena blinked for a short moment before she gave a faint laugh back. "Wouldn't that make you the father?"

This time, it was Raven's turn to blink his eyes in confusion, before he actually grasped what Rena implied and he quirked an eyebrow instead.

"Well… A strict and harsh father, to be more exact." Rena added.

That was the thing that made them so close to each other, without a doubt. They loved to observe Elsword and Aisha, along with their growths. But while Rena treated them with care and love, Raven was strict and he taught them how to live from a lot of perspective instead of being blinded by one way. Rena knew everything, however... Behind all of Raven's strict mentoring, he also watched them with care and kindness. It was just that he couldn't be so open about it.

Raven gave another suppressed sigh as Rena giggled yet again. Honestly, the idea of himself as a father figure to those two was not really fitting. Raven was not even sure how to take care of kids, let alone kids like Elsword and Aisha.

On the other hand…

"You know," Raven extended his human arm to caress Rena's long and silky hair. Even though Rena was a little surprised at the sudden touch at first, she quickly recognized the touch and Raven continued to trail over his finger against her hair gently. "I'm not entirely against that idea."

At this point, he was sure he was already being a hypocrite for saying things about Elsword's relationship with Aisha. He was just like the red-haired knight, who couldn't blurt his feeling for the purple-haired magician. For his own case, it was for Rena—

No, he admitted it. He was in-love with her.

But the only thing that held him back from saying it out loud was his memories. She really reminded him of Seris. Not only the appearance, but her voice, her personality… Everything about her was similar to his dead fiancé, and the last thing that Raven wanted was to put Rena as the substitute for Seris. His heart was still not giving any clear answer to this problem: To forget Seris and move on or not.

Hence for now, this level of romantic gesture was already enough. He was more than content with it.

As his fingers brushed against her hair, Rena's arm movement on stirring the food was gradually slowing. She rarely let people touch her long hair, but even so, Raven's touch was the epitome of gentleness. There was no trace of coldness or cruelness that he often let out on the battlefield. It comforted her.

This might silly coming from her who often teased others about their romantic involvements, but Rena was undergoing a process called 'falling in love' as well. Yet, she knew very well that the person she was in love with was still not able to forget his past experience with his fiancé. That was one thing that she could not help with.

Therefore, she had already determined herself that she would wait until he was able to say it to her. She was an elf, she could live for hundreds of years, and she would wait forever for him.

The archer made a smile to herself before she swirled around to face his surprised face. She then continued by replying his gesture with her own hand. She maidenly caressed Raven's cheek. It was amazing that even though there were a lot of scars around his face, his skin stayed smooth.

"So do I."

Her answer made him smile back at her genuinely.

* * *

While the tale of the four companions made its progress, on the other part of the continent, the sands of time was flowing as well.

"Mechanical and movement system, all green. Preparations are complete."

Radiant golden irises snapped open as a figure made a stride, leaving the still-warm throne of the chamber of the New Altera.

"We are to meet up with others. Approximate duration until we reaches the target should not be more than three hours of flying," the statement was followed by the firm gesture of the figure's slender arm, as it made a small movement to the side to command the two mini-robots. "Moby and Reby, let us depart."

* * *

**As you can see, my take in Raven/Rena relationship is that, compared to Elsword/Aisha, theirs are more… adult and mature. They both realized that they're all over each other, but they take it very slowly because of certain things. Short and sweet settled it best for them, especially when they are in their most altruistic job paths (BM and GA, respectively). Also, I didn't make this chapter as long as the previous one, because I have like... **_**a lot **_**prompts for Raven/Rena.**

**Next chapter would pull Eve, Chung, and Ara to the stage. Please do look forward to it.**

**Reviews are always appreciated. Thanks for reading the chapter and merry xmas and happy new year! **


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